4 most outstanding contributions of LUCRECIO

In unPROFESOR we are going to study the most important contributions of Titus Lucretius Caro (99 a. c.-55 BC C.), Roman philosopher and poet. Author of which only one work is known, the poem De rerum natura or On the nature of things (S.I. to. C.). In this work, Lucretius captures his main contributions to philosophy that revolve around religion, atomism, Epicureanism, cosmogony, evolution or literature.

Likewise, Natural RerumIt is considered one of the most important works of Roman philosophy, influencing other Roman authors such as Virgil (Aeneid), Cicero or Horace. However, his work was forgotten during the Middle Ages and was not recovered until the Renaissance, when Poggio Bracciolini translated it in 1418.

If you want to know more about themost outstanding contributions of Lucretius, keep reading this lesson Let's travel to Ancient Rome!

Index

1. De rerum natura: Lucretius's most important contribution to philosophy
2. Main contributions of Lucretius to philosophy
3. Philosophical thought of Lucretius: natural philosophy

Tito Lucrecio Caro was born into an aristocratic family and lived in one of the convulsive times of the Ancient Rome. Specifically, his life took place during the war played by Gaius Mario and Lucio Cornelio Sila, the conspiracy of Catilina, the rise of Julius Caesar, the war between Octavio Augusto and Marco Antonio-Cleopatra and the rise of the Empire.

In this context, our protagonist developed a taste for philosophy and poetry, writing his most outstanding work, Natural Rerumeither On the nature of things. A didactic poem dedicated to the noble Gaius Gemius, written in Latin and composed of approximately 7,400 hexameters.

This work was possibly divided by Cicero in six parts or volumes:

• Book 1 or Hymn to Venus and praise to Gaius Memio and Epicurus: In this part Lucretius explains to us that the world is made up of atoms.
• book 2: Explains the movement of atoms and their groupings.
• book 3: There is talk about the nature of the soul and it is stated that it is mortal.
• book 4: Exposes the theory of sensation.
• book 5: Talk about the world.
• book 6: Analyzes atmospheric phenomena and diseases, more specifically exposes the ravages of the plague in Athens.

The main contributions of Lucretius revolve around two of the most important doctrines of classical philosophy: The Epicureanism of Epicurus andthe atomistic materialism of Democritus of Abdera .

Epicureanism

One of Lucrecio's goals with By Rerum was to explain the Epicureanism to his Roman contemporaries. Thus, as Lucretius himself says, life consists of

“…accumulate the greatest amount of pleasure and reduce the pain as much as possible…”.

In this sense, the main contribution of our protagonist is that the human being must have a Happy life and that for this a search must be carried out that has to be rational, moderate and without excesses, that is to say, that a intelligent pleasure. Thus, a pleasure obtained in this way is a good pleasure because it gives us the happiness, takes us away from pain and helps us achieve balance (between body and mind), tranquility and a full life.

atomistic materialism

for Lucretius nothing comes from natural intervention, everything is made up of atoms (small indivisible and eternal particles) and there is nothing outside of matter:

“…Nothing is ever born from nothing by the will of the gods…”

Thus, the main contribution that Lucretius has bequeathed to atomism is that the origin of all things on earth corresponds to different particle concatenations either atoms. (Indivisible, eternal and multiform= variation of the property of matter). Likewise, the destruction of beings and things that exist in our world is due to the dispersion of atoms. which, too influence different senses and human perceptions.

Lastly, he also states that the basis of the nature of things is matter and emptiness (non-being). Both, matter and emptiness, form the unit, allow movement, destruction and concatenation.

Along with Epicureanism and atomism, another of Lucrecio's most interesting contributions to the world of philosophy is the natural philosophy. According to which, everything (the world, society, living beings, atmospheric phenomena...) is explained with mechanisms of nature itself or naturalistic and not through external interventions.

In this way, for him, religion is based on fear of men towards everything that is unknown in nature, and therefore, this fear was the key element for the creation of the gods. Reason why, man must free himself from fear of the gods and put aside unhappiness to seek his own happiness.

Also, he states that if the gods exist they do not get involved in life of mortals and that nothing is due to supernatural intervention or the will of the gods, but to the principles of physics and the mechanisms of nature itself (chance or fortune).

Finally, within natural philosophy, Lucretius tells us about cultural/technological development. To explain it, he gives us the example of the evolution in the creation of weapons: first they were made of stones and branches, and later, they were made with metals such as copper and tin. On the other hand, it also refers to the biological evolution and tells us that organisms adapt to the environment to survive.

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Lucretius. (2013). The nature of things. Publishing Alliance